Walk 3: St Bride's to Cardiff

In February 2020, we embarked on our first multi-day Wales Coast Path hike. We had big plans, packing our rucksacks and taking the train to Newport like ‘proper’ hikers, and hoping this trip would take us all the way to Swansea. Alas, we wouldn’t reach Swansea until after COVID lockdown, but we did learn a lot of lessons which would help us out as we continued our walk.

The week got off to an okay start. Having stayed in Newport the previous evening, we grabbed a taxi to the Lighthouse Inn in St Bride’s Wentloog, where we finished our previous hike. Storm Dennis had arrived in South Wales, so this walk would be most accurately described as a ‘trudge’.

Most of the walk was uneventful, with the first five miles taking us along a grassy path, past Rumney Great Wharf and towards the outskirts of Cardiff, before we turned right and headed alongside a reen, which diverted us around marshland.

We reached a roundabout and headed along a road, over Rhymney River. At this point, a Wales Coast Path sign directed us into Tremorfa Park. Once we were in, we couldn’t spot any more signage. We wandered around the park a little, and tried to find our way on the GPS, with little luck, and we eventually reached the nearby Tesco Extra in Pengam. A bit lost and soaked through, we decided to order an Uber to take us to the warmth of our hotel, where our sopping wet clothes took two days to dry!

A couple of days later, we filled in the blank and walked from our hotel to the Tesco Extra where we left off. The walk was, again, pretty uneventful. The lovely sounding Ocean Way was actually just a business park, but we definitely preferred walking on tarmac to grass in the drizzle. We headed to Splott Beach, which isn’t a beach in the traditional sense, but did offer some coastal views. Our walk finished with a wander through a traveller site with some loudly barking dogs, and along the side of a main road, finally reaching Tesco Extra to complete our walk.

This one was never going to be a highlight, but we did successfully make it to wonderful Cardiff!

🥾 Distance: The entire walk is around ten miles.

⭐ Highlight: Getting to Cardiff.

👎 Less Good: Getting lost.

🚗 Transport: We got a train to Newport and a taxi to St Bride’s. The idea was to walk to our hotel, but we got an Uber in Cardiff from the Tesco Extra in Pengam.

🛏️ Accommodation: We had a nice stay at Novotel Cardiff City Centre.

🌱 Food: We had a delicious dinner at Got No Beef, which has sadly now closed.

🗺️ Map: This route is featured in the official South Wales Coast guide.

Still not convinced? Read my ten reasons to walk the Wales Coast Path. If you’re ready to start planning your walk, you can find lots of resources to help you on your way here. Please note, I collect a share of the sales from the links on this page.